Henry Morgenthau Jr.

Henry Morgenthau Jr. (11 May 1891-5 February 1967) was the US Secretary of the Treasury from 1 January 1934 to 22 July 1945, succeeding William H. Woodin and preceding Frederick M. Vinson.

Biography
Henry Morgenthau was born in New York City, New York on 11 May 1891 into a prominent Jewish family. He studied architecture and agriculture at Cornell University, and he met and befriended Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1913. In 1929, Governor Roosevelt appointed Morgenthau chair of the New York State Agricultural Advisory Committee and the state Conservation Commission, and he became governor of the Federal Farm Board when Roosevelt became president. In 1934, after William H. Woodin fell ill and resigned, Morgenthau was appointed the new Secretary of the Treasury, and he believed in balanced budgets, stable currency, reduction of the national debt, and the need for more private investment. His views rivalled those of Roosevelt, who supported increased public spending during the Great Depression, but he supported increased taxes on the wealthy to reduce the deficit and supported Social Security. He also supported the admission of Jewish refugees and initially supported shooting the top 50-100 Nazi Party leaders on capture, later supporting fair trials instead. His Morgenthau Plan promoted the destruction of German industry so that a Fourth Reich could not be created, and he was in bad favor with Roosevelt for a time after his plan was leaked and met with public backlash. On 10 May 1945, Harry S. Truman implemented the plan in occupied Nazi Germany, but Morgenthau resigned when his advice was no longer sought. He died in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1967 at the age of 75.